$65 for 300 rounds of .22 - auction

[lohman446]

http://auction.sslfirearms.com/details.cfm?ID=1178845

300 rounds of CCI mini-mag .22LR.  Bidding currently at $65

This is getting a bit more than ridiculous. 

[TwoGunJayne]

Are those the ones with the real gold bullets?

[lohman446]

I have a lot of ammo in my cabinet.  I'm almost tempted to start dumping it into the market at these prices 

[TwoGunJayne]

Aren't there some laws about price gouging a commodity or something? Do these people have no shame? I bet the guy with those 3 boxes of the CCI has thousands of them and will only have one auction open with 3 boxes at a time.

I bet he's one of those slimeballs who buys absolutely every round he can so he can do this. There are people out there trying to actively force a shortage and make money doing it. If we take away the financial incentive, they will fail and lose money.

Sadly, the solution is "nobody buy from these jerks," but people have already bid. Be warned, the "other bidders" may be confederates of the price gouger/auction holder.

HOW MANY ROUNDS ARE PRODUCED EACH YEAR?
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10924&page=73
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Long_Rifle

Source is from 2004. Can anyone find something more current?
Two billion a year, to 2.5 billion. I imagine it is quite a bit higher than that now.
2,500,000,000 rounds per year. If it were distributed equally by state, that's 50 million rounds per state per year.

Something fishy is going on with this "shortage."

Also, check this out: http://www.thecmp.org/Sales/ammo.htm
I'd forgotten that the CMP sold .22 ammo. 6-12 month backorder, ouch.

NOBODY is posting 2012 numbers, much less 2013 monthly.

[cedarview kid]

I've been tempted, too, Lohman. Why haven't I? Because I have no idea when I'll be able to replace it, and I don't want to be part of the problem by scalping ammo. I mean, I fully understand the principle of supply and demand and I wouldn't be putting a gun to anybody's head to pay my ammo prices, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't feel guilty about doing it.

I do, however, have 75 rounds of .38-Special, but have since sold my .357-Magnum revolver and don't have anything else that uses it. (I don't have a .38-special handgun? What???) So what do I do with it? Take advantage of the inflated prices? I'll probably just give it to my brother, who recently bought a Taurus .357. Honestly, how much can 75 rounds of Winchester .38-special round ball be worth?

I've decided to sell some guns during this time instead.

[cedarview kid]

Shill bidders suck, TGJ. eBay has even made that harder to do over the past few years. Good for them.

[lohman446]

I've been tempted, too, Lohman. Why haven't I? Because I have no idea when I'll be able to replace it, and I don't want to be part of the problem by scalping ammo. I mean, I fully understand the principle of supply and demand and I wouldn't be putting a gun to anybody's head to pay my ammo prices, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't feel guilty about doing it.

I keep reminding myself that I have the amount of ammo that I do for a reason and that I would be annoyed with myself for selling it.  If this is the new price of ammo I am going to have to buy a bow. 

[cedarview kid]

Well, it certainly does not cost that much to manufacture the ammo, so the price is artificially inflated by demand. Once this mess dies down, I have to think the price will go down with it.

[TwoGunJayne]

If this is the new price of ammo I am going to have to buy a bow.

Even if a coalition of people were trying to force a shortage by buying up all the can and then gouging the heck out of it, this bubble cannot last. 2.5 billion a year, they can't buy it all. They will lose control eventually.

Don't forget that Washington (the man, not the place) very nearly selected the bow to be the weapon of the revolution.

Anyway, If you're looking at bows, why not get a "take down" bow? My first two bows were fixed and I always wanted a take down. I ended up getting a custom take down from my grandfather when he retired from archery due to arthritis some many years ago. I will never sell it.

http://www.lancasterarchery.com/bows/traditional-bows/take-down-recurve-bows.html

Martin makes nice bows, I have one of their fixed recurve models.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunting/Archery/Bows/Recurve-Longbows|/pc/104791680/c/104693580/sc/104235480/i/103969080/Martin-Jaguar-Take-Down-Bow/713597.uts

If you're just getting into archery, look for something that used to be called a "judo point." There are a couple of makers. Another option is the SGH (small game head,) like a Judo but solid and unsprung. You can make home made judos by hot gluing an empty .38 special casing over the end of your arrow shaft, drilling two holes through it, and passing two paneling nails through it in an X pattern. It's basically the same thing. Judos really, really help prevent arrow loss. I can't tell you how many I've lost when they shoot under the leaves. You'd need a metal detector to find them. When a judo hits the ground, the outrigger arms spring it upwards, usually sticking straight up out of the ground. Combine with blaze orange fletching and you've got it! You really only need 3-5 judo point arrows, more than that is overkill. You for the most part will not lose them, to the point where you begin to become attached to them. They double-duty as excellent small game points. A 50-65 pound draw bow will smack them down effectively.

The best way to learn archery is a practice called "stump shooting." You don't actually shoot stumps, you'll break your arrows! Only if you can find a rotting, spongy, crumbling stump can you shoot it. Most stump shooters actually shoot pine cones and leaves.

Remember, instinctive shooting takes thousands and thousands of shots to learn. You may find you prefer the "compound bow," instead. There are no takedown compounds to my knowledge, but I may be uninformed. Compounds work by using "sighting pins" and usually a wrist-mounted release aid... a "trigger release." Compounds tend towards faster arrow flight and have a reduced pull as you reach your draw length. This reduced pull is called "let off." Compound bows have different percentages of let off. A 65% let off of a 100 pound draw, means it only takes 45 pounds to hold the string back while you aim. You might prefer that to a traditional-type bow.

[lohman446]

  If I go with a bow its going to be a longbow.  I have a recurve I have shot for some time but there is something about the longbow that really has my fancy.  Perhaps I may even go with wooden arrows. 

[TwoGunJayne]

I find woodies to be more durable for stump shooting. If they split, you can usually even glue them back together. They are the slowest shooting.

Carbons are expensive but nice because they don't bend, they just shatter. They also offer faster arrow flight. These are well suited to stand hunting when combined with a neon arrow wrap and blaze fletching. They'll be sticking out of the ground and you shouldn't have a loss. There are also LED "blinking nocks," they are actually worth it on carbons due to the price of the shafts. Anything to stop a loss!

Aluminum is meh. It has no real advantage, they bend easily. Commonly available, but not particularly cheap. I shoot them when I have a chance to lose the arrow, walking hunting, jump shooting, that sort of thing.

The most important thing about broadheads (in my humble opinion) is that if you can't change out a broken blade you have just gotten ripped off on that head. If the design prevents sharpening, STAY AWAY!

An interesting broadhead that has come up recently (compared to other types) is the "mechanical broadhead." One of the first on the market were called Satellite "Punch Cutters." The point of them is to have arrow flight like a field point, but function as a broadhead. Big heavy broadheads fly differently and droop faster than field points. It really only makes a difference with long range compound shooting (usually with a range finder.)

50-65 pound longbow? You want a 2-blade broadhead (flat across.) Leave the 3-blades for 65+ pound compound shooters or people who want to pull a Robin Hood with a 90+ pound longbow. I tried one of those, it kicked my butt and I went crawling back to my 65# Martin. I think the guy was lying when he said it was 90, I could only draw the thing maybe 12 inches? One thing is for sure, even with a 12 inch draw, it penetrated the backstop felt and shot through where my 65 pounder would stick. You can kill an Elk or Moose with the proper broadhead on a 65 pound bow. I think overweight bows are an ego thing.

Bows are an essential tool for any shooter because of lessons we are learning as we speak. Quiet, cheap to maintain once bought, and rich in the history of our forefathers.

Summary: $65 for 300 rounds of .22?!?!?! Buy a used bow for that money instead.

[Kentucky Kevin]

TGJ I'm glad that you are not the B____ that you initially introduced yourself to me as. Since I was going to make you the first person to have ever been put on ignore( life is to short to be around angry bully's) and YOU KNOW WAY TO MUCH ABOUT SO MANY DIFFERENT SUBJECTS. THANK YOU FOR ALL I"VE LEARNED.

[TwoGunJayne]

I'm still sorry about that, HTW. I thought you were jumping on grayelky. Just standing up for my "bros" here, recognized his name but not yours yet. I know you now, it's good. I'll stand up for you when the next antigun troll shows up and spews some garbage. Thanks for participating!

[frimsure]

ok guys i just checked out this auction there is an hour and 45 mins. the bid is at $106. are these guys on drugs?

[TwoGunJayne]

That's a nice factory-made used 65 pound bow and likely a quiver with arrows! Good grief!

That's ten factory slingshots and a fat sack of ball bearings!

You have any idea how many home made siege bows you could make with that much and a junkyard?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbalest

[cedarview kid]

ok guys i just checked out this auction there is an hour and 45 mins. the bid is at $106. are these guys on drugs?

Why yes! Yes they are!

(BTW, the Minimaster is on it's way. Tracking number sent.)

[frimsure]

sweet cant wait. your awesome...

[Kentucky Kevin]

Thanks for the look out. I TRY to ignore ignorance, messes with my Serenity I'm guilty though, I sold a $350 gun for $850 (hard to get ammo as cheap as I used to. Kept one 7.62X39 Just in case.

[frimsure]

oh my load 22 minutes left and its at $146. those people are insane

[cedarview kid]

I think we have some bidders caught up in the emotions of the auction. That is just stupid crazy. Unless they are thinking that each box is 500 rounds and they aren't reading the auction. At first, I thought it was a good deal, but had to do a "double take." Ah, right, I thought--that's only 300 rounds. Not so good of a deal after all, but at least it's CCI.

Somebody's gonna get buyer's remorse!

[rhett]

Schmoly, prices insane, but available.

22M - $29 to $34 a  50rd box
http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=10480_14627_14649_14650&sort=&filter_id=&sort=&filter_id_caliber=&instock=1

22LR - $50 a 100rd box / $21 to $29 a 50rd box
http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=10480_14627_14649_14654&sort=&filter_id=&sort=&filter_id_caliber=&instock=1

My plinking and paper punching just had a wake-up call. For now at the least.

[TwoGunJayne]

Gentlemen, if you have abundance, now is the time to sell. I'm not selling. I don't have much.

[Kentucky Kevin]

Hope they get free shipping that 13% buyers premium should cover that

[lohman446]

http://auction.sslfirearms.com/items.cfm?auction=3568&page=2#item1178845

There is a lot of ammo on this auction - all going for about the same riduclous price.  The closest thing to a "good" buy was the 250 rounds of .22Mag for "only" $86

The original 300 rounds of CCI mini-mags went for $146 - 200 Rounds of Remington went for $100

[heyjoe]

the only ammo i have bought recently besides two boxes of 9mm that were sitting on a walmart shelf 10 days ago are less popular calibers that are more available. ive bought 500 rounds of 38 s&w (not 38 special)  250 rounds of 32 h&r and 250 rounds of 32 long. prices on these hadnt gone up either. otherwise im not buying anything with ridiculous markups. 

[RogueTS1]

With prices like that I may have to unload some of the 10,000 .22LR I have and slowly restock it at more modest prices.

[lohman446]

With prices like that I may have to unload some of the 10,000 .22LR I have and slowly restock it at more modest prices.

At 50 cents a round I am working hard to convince myself not to do the same thing 

[cedarview kid]

With prices like that I may have to unload some of the 10,000 .22LR I have and slowly restock it at more modest prices.

At 50 cents a round I am working hard to convince myself not to do the same thing

Yeah, no kidding....

[rhett]

If you need some 22LR at $5.50 a box of 50rds of Eley Target, it can be had here: (SOLD OUT of few hours after posting)
http://www.killoughshootingsports.com/index.php/ammo/eley-target-22lr-ammunition.html

If one is patient, looking or waiting will be worth it.

[cedarview kid]

If you need some 22LR at $5.50 a box of 50rds of Eley Target, it can be had here:
http://www.killoughshootingsports.com/index.php/ammo/eley-target-22lr-ammunition.html

If one is patient, looking or waiting will be worth it.

Hmm. That's still $55 per brick. I think I'll wait.

[TwoGunJayne]

Interesting to note that Eley match has pretty much been available this whole time.

Guess the gougers, newbie preppers, and OMG!-first-time-owners never think about the "good stuff."

That Eley match is AWESOME out of my uncle's long barrel "high capacity" .22 lr smith revolver. He can fit groups on a postage stamp at 30 feet using that Eley ammo. He gets a chuckle out of out-shooting me at 35 yards using that pistol when I'm using a single-shot bolt. If the world crashes and we need pot meat, I'm giving my ammo to him.

In my LGS, I've noticed that centerfire hunting ammo and premium SD ammo "came back first." It's the cheap FMJ, .223/5.56, 7.62x39 that's vanished. We live in a crazy, crazy world when it costs the same to shoot .30-06 Nosler partitions per round as .223 or .22 lr. It's nuts, I say.

[Kentucky Kevin]

Well, just sold some mini-mags for $20 per 100, could have $25, but did not want to goug. I'm getting 260 shorts thrown in with a NAA for $160

[frimsure]

well guys the link to the eley ammo is a bust there sold out.

[lohman446]

I just looked.  I have a few boxes (100 rounds) of mini-mags unopened with the $6.99 price sticker still on them.  A brick of 500 CCI and a brick of 500 Blazer.  That right there is roughly $300+ if those prices continue.  It would put me down to my 1000 min. supply of 22 but I would be lying if I told you I was not seriously considering it.  I would guess I paid less than $50 for it

[Kentucky Kevin]

I did well selling my AK's, hadn't even fired them, so I probably didn't need them.